John Cassidy[1] is an old man with deep wrinkles along his face and scars all over his body, running a bar on the Vault City outskirts. His long history of adventuring have left him in a less than perfect state, including a metal plate in his head, tens of old wounds, lack of one eye and memory of severe wounds, including a knifing in 2203 and gun wounds from 2201, 2195 and 2199[2]. Yet, despite his state, his skill with a rifle is nothing short of excellent - he is the best marksman the Chosen One can expect to have.

Despite his life of violence, he is a very kind and polite person, at least to people he respects. Anyone who gets on his bad side can expect to be treated no better than dirt, usually accompanied by a number of curses from Cassidy's sizeable catalogue of insults. Myron is the usual victim of Cassidy's picking, as the adolescent genius, apart from creating the pharmaceutical scourge of the wastes, is perceived by the old man as a piece of human trash.

Cassidy does not like Slavers, Childkillers, or those with a karma of -101 or below, Cassidy will not join him. He won't leave if Chosen One gain these perks or lower his karma after Cassidy has joined, though. Quote: "Naw, I don't travel with slavers. They have a nasty habit o' selling you when they get low on cash. No offense."

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Cassidy and his chronic heart disease

Cassidy suffers from rhythm and conduction disorder - some kind of block; he explains to the Chosen One that he needs "cardio booster shots to keep [his] heart beating"; he needs a cardiostimulator in fact. When treated with psycho, buffout or jet, Cassidy suffers a heart attack and dies instantly, so it would appear that steroids and amphetamine derivatives are particularly harmful for him (it is unknown what psycho consists of).

Cassidy needs real medical care and Vault City is the only place to get it. Unfortunately, as with any other outworlder, he is not allowed to receive it. Of course, like everybody he can pay for ancient and partially damaged Auto-Doc services at Courtyard clinic, but basic treatment (healing wounds) is not enough, and more advanced procedures are prohibitively expensive.

If the Chosen One can convince Cassidy to leave Vault City ,then the only problem is Cassidy's drug intolerance. He experesses some doubts when Chosen One treats him with other drugs and consumables (stimpaks, alcohol, Nuka-Cola etc.) but they are perfectly safe.("*Hic* Heh-heh. Nothing like some good ol' firewater to get the blood pumping").

The "heart pills" found in the Westin's Ranch in NCR have no effect on Cassidy and are unrelated (though he claims that he 'feels' better immediately after taking one, he still regularly complains of problems).

Talking about his skills

He declares that he is skilled with shotguns and rifles mostly (personal preference, he is equipped with sawed-off shotgun), and is a pretty good shot with pistols, too. He can also use brass knuckles and spears - he claims that he used to hunt with a spear, but is a little ashamed that it makes him sound like a tribal. He's an excellent shot, especially if you equip him with the M72 Gauss Rifle later on. He can also be equipped with the Solar Scorcher and presumably other energy weapons.

Behind the scenes

Cassidy's name may have originally been MacRae, as he is reffered to in dialogue with Metzger.

Cassidy was originally supposed to have a Talking Head but this was cut halfway during production. In the Fallout 2 Restoration Project mod his talking head is returned but has no voice as production on it was cut before the voice actor could be cast.

Cassidy claims his father named him after his favorite comic book character; this may refer to Sean Cassidy a.k.a. Banshee or his cousin 'Black Tom Cassidy'; Marvel comic book characters, or to Cassidy the vampire from 'Preacher' published by DC Comics under the imprint Vertigo. Cassidy says that he was a "Mean Sonuvabitch"

He also makes a reference to Final Fantasy VII, via one of his floating dialogues which says "Wish I had a Limit Break!"

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In 2001

Cassidy was a recently divorced woman whom Sawyer conned out of a known $600,000. After thwarting his usual routine of "accidentally" dropping the briefcase full of money, she asked him to teach her how to con and they spent the next few months working small scams. Once she felt confident in her skills, she asked Sawyer to teach her a long con, and offered her own money as capital. The two of them may have been in love; however, Sawyer still took her money, and left her. ("The Long Con")

After her relationship with Sawyer ended, Cassidy set out on the road. While in Iowa, she tried to con people using the techniques she had been taught by Sawyer. Unfortunately, she was not as successful as she hoped. When a man she was trying to con at a service station threatened to call the police, a young lady stepped forward and pretended to buy her fake jewelry to help her out. The woman turned out to be Kate. The two got together for drinks at a local bar where Cassidy promised to help Kate talk to her mother, Diane.

Cassidy first helped Kate by going to Diane's house disguised as a Bible saleswoman who could easily be mistaken for Kate, so that they could have an idea of how heavily guarded Diane's house was. After being taken in for questioning and eventually released, Cassidy and Kate decided to take a different approach. While in the diner that Diane worked at, Cassidy spilled some food on Diane, forcing her to go to the bathroom where Kate was waiting to talk to her.

Cassidy told Kate about her affair with Sawyer, but did not mention his name. She told Kate that she was now pregnant with Sawyer's child. Cassidy said she was considering pressing charges against Sawyer, but wasn't sure whether to do so. (She did not explain how she planned to find him.) She and Kate then went their separate ways. ("Left Behind")

In 2002

At some point after that, Cassidy did in fact press charges against Sawyer, and he was convicted of crimes and sent to prison.

While Sawyer was in prison, Cassidy visited him and showed him a picture of a baby girl named Clementine Phillips, whom she claimed was his daughter. Sawyer rejected the notion that he could be her father, but later opened a bank account in Albuquerque, in Clementine's name, with the earnings from his prison con. ("Every Man for Himself")

After Kate returned from the Island, she sought out Cassidy to tell her that Sawyer had been on the Island as well, and that he had remained behind. She then gave Cassidy an envelope full of cash for Clementine, on behalf of Sawyer. Cassidy was shocked to hear about what had happened on the Island, but she also told Kate about why she thought Sawyer had stayed behind; because he couldn't face a future with Kate. Cassidy became Kate's confidant, and the two discussed Kate's relationship with Aaron and came to the conclusion that Kate took Aaron, not to protect him, but because she "needed him", as how else could she mend her broken heart in the wake of Sawyer leaving her? ("Whatever Happened, Happened")

Trivia

Kim Dickens, the actress portraying Cassidy, previously starred in the movie Zero Effect in which she played a woman involved in a plan to con her father out of money because she had discovered he had killed her mother because of her pregnancy.